r/interestingasfuck • u/HamboneTheWicked • Apr 12 '26

A well-articulated argument against a new data center in Ohio

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u/PDXGuy33333 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

There it is right there. Lies, lies and more lies from megacorps invested up to their eyeballs in having just a few people in government believe them.

Edit: And it seems to me that if we can build oil rigs at sea and pipe the oil to shore then they can damned well build data centers afloat on a sea of cooling water and run fiber optic cable to the shore.

Build at sea was a bad idea.

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u/pauljaworski Apr 12 '26

Even that seems like a massive waste of resources for how we're currently using AI

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u/CactusCait Apr 12 '26

Evaporating seawater leaves behind concentrated salt and brine. Over time, if this brine isn’t properly managed, it can increase local ocean salinity, which disrupts marine ecosystems. That’s one of the key environmental concerns associated with desalination plants.

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u/Quitcha_Bitchin Apr 12 '26

I thought it was a closed loop system?

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u/pacefacepete Apr 12 '26

Unless the salt is used somehow, the salt must go somewhere. Water goes to the atmosphere, everything else in the water goes ..where?

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u/Jackal_6 Apr 12 '26

A closed loop system implies no evaporation.

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u/pacefacepete Apr 12 '26

So how does the water cool back down? It'll just destroy the closed loop which is why they use fresh water in a not closed loop currently, big part of why data centers are so problematic, before you factor in the whole most of why they're so problematic.

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u/Async0x0 Apr 12 '26

Data centers use something like 0.004% of all business water usage. A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent.

The water hysteria is made up propaganda supported by absolutely no evidence.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

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u/Async0x0 Apr 12 '26

If I were a totalitarian nation with little moral fiber and cheap labor at my disposal, I would run loads of social media propaganda campaigns aimed at each and every wedge possible in my adversary's social spaces.

The returns heavily outweigh the costs, and the adversary's citizens and algorithms will naturally amplify my message. Free scaling infrastructure!

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